Tags: Healthcare

Nearly Half of Americans Say Obamacare is a Bad Idea

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning •

Obamacare critics have maintained from day one the president's signature healthcare bill is disastrous and doomed to fail.

Now with just months until the bill takes full effect, more and more Americans are beginning to think the same thing.

According to recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, support for the Affordable Care Act is slipping.

The fresh poll shows 49% of Americans say President Barack Obama's health care reform bill is a bad idea. That's the highest percentage since the poll began measuring backing and opposition for the reform in 2009. Only 37% say the plan is a good idea.

The numbers reflect a sharp increase in disapproval since July 2012 following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold President Obama's healthcare overhaul. At that time, 44% of survey respondents called it a bad idea vs. 40% who called it a good one.

The latest poll also revealed 38% of participants said they and their families will be in worse shape under the new health care law, the highest negative outlook percentage toward Obamacare since it was signed into law in 2010.

Now just 19% say they will be better off while 39% say the law won't make much difference.

Obamacare: Not So Affordable

Billed as "affordable" and an economic relief for struggling workers, Americans are finding out that's not the case.

Thanks to several hiccups in the law, companies can meet their legal obligation of offering health care to employees by offering polices that are too pricey for scores of their low-wage workers.

One provision even says workers with an offer of "affordable" workplace coverage aren't entitled to new tax credits for private insurance.

While the company gets off the hook, employees face requirements to get health insurance or be subjected to fines. Yet many workers are likely to remain uninsured, despite penalties.

"It's an imperfection in the new law," Ron Pollack, president of liberal advocacy group Families USA told the Associated Press.

"An avoidance of opportunity," is what Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union, a 2-million service sector labor union, called the provision.

A Flood of Insurance Cancellation Notices Expected

As early as this fall, a multitude of personal insurance plans could be cancelled thanks to yet another wrinkle in Obamacare.

Under the federal overhaul, policies that don't meet new insurance plan standards could be discontinued. As a result, many individuals and small businesses will have to find a new one.

Though the bill aims to ensure that most insurance companies provide a basic set of overage in President Obama's quest to cover most of America's 50 million uninsured, its goes against one of the president's best known pledges of the law, "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan."

Lawmakers Mulling Early an Exit

So worried that their health insurance premiums will soar next year under Obamacare, dozens of lawmakers and aides are mulling early retirement or just quitting.

Due to yet another provision in the healthcare bill, government subsidized premiums for Washington staff will vanish at the end of 2013. That means aides and lawmakers will be pushed onto the government health care exchange. As a result, their benefits are apt to skyrocket.

The Grassley Amendment states the government can only offer members of Congress and their staff plans that are "created" in the bill or "offered through an exchange."

Presently, aides and lawmakers get health care under the generous Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The government now bankrolls some 75% of the premiums for Capital Hill staff's health insurance plans

"It's a reality, Rep Pete Session (R-TX) told Politico. "This is the law... It's going to hinder our ability with retention of members, it's going to hinder our ability for members to take care of their families."

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